Letters and a Lullaby
by EternalWolfSpirit
Summary: on shot set during 5x11. One her death bed, Katherine asks Nadia to read a letter and after her mothers death, that letter leads her to New Orleans and to a certain Elijah Mikaelson.


**AN: I know I have already done a 5x11 when Katherine is dying but in that one, Elijah showed up at the boarding house. This is where he doesn't and he finds out about her death.**

* * *

As Katherine was lying on the bed in the Salvatore boarding house, she was thinking about everything that she regretted. She regretted all the evil she had done because now all she wanted was to be redeemed, so she could go on to the after life. The only good thing she ever did was create the life that was next to her. Nadia was laid on the bed with her and she was exhausted from finding a way to keep her mother alive. She found a traveller who could teach Katherine to put her spirit into another but it had to be someone who is related. Nadia quickly jumped in but Katherine didn't want her daughter to give up her life for hers and Elena was out of the question as they both knew that the Salvatore brothers would fight for her.

Katherine kept her focus on her sleeping daughter and it reminded her of her biggest regret. She would never regret having Nadia but she regretted that she didn't fight harder to keep her and didn't search all of her 500 years to find her. It took Katherine being turned human and dying of old age, before she saw her little girl again. She saw a note pad and pen next to her on the cupboard and gently leaned over to get it, so that it wouldn't wake Nadia up. She began to write two letters.

* * *

After she had finished writing the letters, she placed them onto the cupboard and then looked back at Nadia. A piece of hair was in her face and Katherine moved it to go behind her ear and she smiled at the daughter. She could feel herself getting weaker and knew that she didn't have long left. She started to hum and then sang an Old Bulgarian lullaby "тук в ръцете ми, моето малко момиче лъжи, моето малко момиче лежи в ръцете на майка си. също така и в съзнанието ми, сърцето и душата завинаги. И аз те обичам моето малко момиче".

A tear fell from her eye as she sung but then she felt someone touch her hand and when she looked down, Nadia was awake. She wiped the tear away as quick as she could and then Nadia said "I love you too, mother". Katherine smiled but then she started to cough roughly. She placed a hand over her mouth but she pulled it away after a moment and saw that it had blood on it. She closed her hand into a fist, so Nadia wouldn't see and Nadia said "what can I do?"

"Water" Katherine said quietly and Nadia quickly jumped off of the bed and whooshed downstairs. Katherine gulped as she was nervous and stared at the cupboard next to the bed, where the letters were but also the anaesthetic they had been giving her all day. She knew that if she had more anaesthetic, it would end her pain quicker. She sat up against the headboard and reached for the injections. She got a large amount of anaesthetic and injected it into the middle of her arm.

Just as she was about to inject the last drop, Nadia whooshed into the room and ripped it out of her arm. She placed the glass of water on the side as she held the syringe and you could see a drop fall from the end of it and hit the floor. She looked at the syringe in her hand and crushed it, so that the glass broke in her hand as she said "what are you doing?"

Katherine took a few deep breaths as she could feel the sedative working "I can't let you watch me die...I can't do that to you".

Nadia shook her head and sat down on the bed next to her dying mother as tears came to her eyes "what happened to suicide not being motherly?"

Katherine tried to smirk but she couldn't "your right but I can't let you watch me suffer. I can't let you remember that".

A tear fell from Nadia's eye and she chocked on a sob as she said "please don't leave me".

It broke Katherine's heart to see her daughter crying and then she said "read the letter when I'm gone" she gestured towards the cupboard "promise me".

Nadia nodded and said "I promise".

Katherine then took her bracelet off with difficulty and handed it to Nadia "I want you to have this".

Nadia took the bracelet "your daylight bracelet".

Katherine shook her head and said "I don't need it anymore. I love you, Nadia" Katherine said as her eyes began to flutter close "never forget that".

Nadia looked down as another sob came and she said "I love you, mother" she then looked up and Katherine's eyes were closed and Nadia couldn't hear her heart.

Nada lied down on the bed and placed her head on her mother's chest, praying that her heart would started again. She began to sing the same lullaby that Katherine had sung for her not long ago "тук в ръцете ми, моето малко момиче лъжи, моето малко момиче лежи в ръцете на майка си. също така и в съзнанието ми, сърцето и душата завинаги. И аз те обичам моето малко момиче". After a few minuets, she stopped crying and wiped her tears as Stefan walked into the room. He gave her a small comforting smile and Nadia knew that out of everyone downstairs, Stefan forgave Katherine for everything that she had done to him. She sat up and looked at the letter and she noticed that there was also one in an envelop. She picked up the one not in an envelope as Stefan said "there's a coffin downstairs, I assume that you want to take her back to Bulgaria?" Nadia bit the bottom of her lip and nodded and Stefan left the room as he knew that she needed to grieve.

Nadia gripped the letter tightly as she instantly recognised the writing as she read...

_Dear, Nadia_

_I don't know how to start this off because either way that I'm looking at it, in the end I'll be leaving...Lets start this off with I love you. I've loved you for 500 years, since the first moment I felt you kick, since the first moment I heard you cry and I never stopped, not for one second. I only have few regrets in my life and one of them is you. I was selfish all of my life and the only good I created was you. I regret not fighting harder for you. I regret letting my father rip you out of my arms and it haunted me forever. After I became a vampire, I regret nothing because it all led me back to you and if I had to give up immortality to get to know my beautiful daughter, then so be it. I'm sorry that you became a vampire because of me, I'm sorry that you wasted your life because of me but now you're free. I want you to live for eternity and do whatever makes you happy, I want you to travel and explore. Find happiness, live your life. Do it for me, do it for the both of us. You're beautiful, strong; stubborn...you have the Petrova fire. I'm proud to call you my daughter, Nadia._

_I also want to warn you that you need to be careful. I have enemies all around the world that want to hurt me and if I'm dead and they discover that I have a daughter, they'll come after you. I never wanted this life for you, Nadia. I wanted to watch you grow, to teach you how to ride your first horse, how to dance for the first time, how to walk and talk. Please be careful. I'll be watching over you and I don't want to see you get hurt, I couldn't handle._

_The letter that is in the envelope, I need you to take it to New Orleans. I need you to give it to Elijah. I know that I didn't tell you much about him but although he is an original, he once loved me. He once protected me and I have to thank him for that and he needs to understand what happened._

_I will love you always_

_Your mother, Katerina x_

Nadia looked away from the letter just as a tear fell to the end of it and she wiped the rest of them away. She folded the letter up and put it in her pocket before she picked up the envelope. Although she made a promise to herself, many years earlier, that she wouldn't interfere in the Originals lives, she knew that she know had to. She had to fulfil her mother's last wishes.

* * *

Two days after Katherine's death, Nadia was in New Orleans. She had placed her mother's body into the coffin Stefan had got and had compelled a private plane to take her to Bulgaria and to place it in her family's old property that she owned. She wanted to bury her mother herself and didn't want anyone else to be at the burial as no one else cared. She would allow Elijah depending on his reaction to her death and hoped that what her mother said in the letter was true. She had heard stories that Elijah had hunted her mother for centuries and she couldn't imagine him loving her if that's what he did but she knew the bond of family was close and she knew that he had loyalty to Klaus. Even though Klaus betrayed him, Elijah was known as the noble and loyal original as he was the one that everyone wanted to make deals with. With Klaus, that was a different story. That was one person she didn't want to see.

Nadia had parked her car not far from Bourbon Street. She looked around and didn't know where to start looking but she knew that all vampires loved their alcohol and that's where she would find the answers. She walked into a bar called Rousseau's and as she looked around, she couldn't see Elijah. She sat down at the bar and a blonde waitress with the name tag Camille, walked towards her. She wiped the bar and said "what can I get you?"

"Bourbon on rocks" Camille nodded.

As soon as Camille placed the drink in front of her, she took a sip then Camille said "names Cami, what's yours?"

Nadia looked at the woman curiously then said "Nadia".

Cami smiled and said "from you accent I take it your from...Bulgaria?"

Nadia smirked and said "you would be correct".

Nadia took another sip of bourbon as Cami said "what you doing in New Orleans?"

Nadia hesitated for a moment then said "I'm here to find someone" Cami sent her a curious look "what do you know about the Mikaelson?"

Nadia then drank the rest of her drink in on and Cami froze. She licked her bottom lip and Nadia could hear her heart began to race. Cami then coughed and said "who specifically are you looking for?"

"So you do know them" she placed the glass on the bar and pushed it away "I'm looking for Elijah".

"Why?"

"That's none of your concern" Cami glanced away from Nadia and looked to the corner of the room. Nadia glanced that way and when she looked, three people were stood next to her and she assumed they were vampires.

She stood up out of her chair and glared at the vampires. One of them, a man with dark skin, brown curly hair and brown eyes stepped forward and said "you need to come with us".

Nadia scoffed and said "not likely".

She turned to walk away but then the same man, who spoke, grabbed the top of her arm and turned her slightly. She smirked as she knew that he was a young vampire and she assumed he was less than two centuries old. He then said "we're taking you to Klaus". She took a deep breath as she didn't want to see him but she knew that she would see Elijah if she went. She was dragged out of the bar and Cami sent her a sympathetic look.

* * *

Nadia was taken to the compound and when she got there, she could see that there were at least fifteen vampires on the inside, not counting the two that was `escorting' her. A few of the men were drinking at the tables and one stood up and said "Diego, what's this?"

The man who grabbed her arm before, named Diego answered "Marcel, we found her at Rousseau's looking for the Mikaelson's".

Marcel sat back down and poured himself another drink then Nadia said "I never said I was looking for them, I said I was looking for Elijah".

"What do you want with him?" someone asked and they turned around to be faced with Rebekah Mikaelson.

Rebekah walked closer towards her and Diego took a step back and let go of Nadia's upper arm. Nadia crossed her arms over her chest and said "I'm here to see Elijah. No one else".

Rebekah walked threateningly towards her and when she got close, she examined the girl. She saw something similar and looked at her curiously, before asking "have we met before? You look familiar".

Nadia smirked as she knew that she looked like her mother and took a step closer to Rebekah and shrugged. All the vampires in the compound were watching the scene and thought that Rebekah would act but before anything happened, Elijah and Klaus walked downstairs and Klaus said "sister, have you made a new friend?" he smirked.

Rebekah scoffed as she turned around and said "she looks familiar, Nik. Have you seen her before?"

Both Elijah and Klaus looked towards Nadia and they both also thought she looked familiar. Nadia took a step forward and said "Elijah?" while looking at him.

"Yes. Do I know you?" Elijah asked curiously then straightened up his suit.

Nadia shook her head "no but I have a message for you" she took the letter from out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Elijah took the letter and looked at the front and the back and he could only see that it had his name on it. Nadia glanced at her back and could see a few vampires stood behind her and she knew that she wouldn't be able to leave. Elijah took the letter out of the envelope and immediately looked to the bottom to see who it was from. As soon as he saw her name, he went back to the top and began to read...

_Dear, Elijah_

_By the time you read this, I will be gone. If Nadia has done what I ask, then you would have received this letter not long after I died. I knew that the so called Mystic Falls protectors wouldn't have told you of my dismissed as they were having drinks, while I was suffering and they are the reason I died. On the night that you left me, Elena and I had a fight and she shoved the cure down my throat. She made me human. Turns out your brother Kol wasn't joking when he said that the cure was for Silas and that he should have stayed dead. Silas wanted the cure no matter what and Damon tricked me into Silas feeding from me. From then on, I was ageing rapidly because time was catching up with me._

_I've been thinking a lot lately about the past and how even through everything that I did to you, you still loved me. I was in love with you from the first moment I met you and then when I thought you betrayed me, it broke me. I spent 500 years running from you because I couldn't cope looking at your face and remembering all the good we had and then remembering the bad. When I saw you again in Mystic falls, I didn't want to run because of Klaus, I wanted to run because I couldn't cope being around you._

_When you kissed me again and told me you loved me, I truly believe you and thought that you would give us a chance but I guessed wrong. When I told you I wanted to remember the girl I first met, I never told you that, that girl also had heartache. I hid it well but two years before I met you, I lost my baby. I say lost but my father ripped her out of my arms, the second I gave birth. That baby was Nadia. She's my little girl, Elijah. I know that you don't owe my anything but please look after her. While I was dying, she was the only one there who truly loved me and I don't want anything to happen to her. As I'm writing this letter, she's asleep beside me, exhausted from trying to find a way to save me and I can't help but feel guilty that she is wasting more of her life on me. She turned into a vampire because of me, to find me and I can't help but think what would have happened if we found each other soon. What would have happened if we stayed together and you didn't go to New Orleans? I guess I'll never know._

_Know this one thing, Elijah...I love you. I never stopped but I was just too afraid to call you before I died. I knew that you would try to find a way to save me and although that's all I wanted, we looked at every possibility and we asked witches and none of them could stop time or find a way to turn me. I already had a person I love watching me die, I couldn't have two. Know that I'll always watch over you and I wish you happiness._

_Love_

_Your Katerina x_

As Elijah finished reading, he could only stare at the letter as he felt tears coming to his eyes. He ran a hand over his face, before he looked at Nadia and said "you're Nadia?" she nodded "you her daughter".

Nadia smiled and Elijah noticed that it was like Katherine when she was truly happy and not when she was planning something. Nadia took a step closer to him and said "what did she say?"

"She told me how her fait came to be. She told me about what happened when you were a child and why you turned into a vampire...and some other things" he smiled and she smirked. He then lost it and said "when did it happen?"

Nadia looked down to the ground as she too lost her smile and said "two days ago. I'm taking her body back to our homeland for the funeral".

"Two days?" Elijah asked wanting to confirm. As she nodded, he looked at Klaus and Rebekah who were stood next to each other and said "Niklaus, Rebekah, I am going to ask you one question and I want you to tell me truthfully".

Rebekah looked between him and Nadia and said "who the bloody hell is she?"

"You wanna know why I look familiar" Nadia snapped "it might have something to do with, you hunting my mother since 1492...I'm Nadia Petrova".

"You're related to that bitch Katherine" Rebekah practically shouted and all of the other vampires who were watching the scene didn't really understand what was going on.

Nadia clenched her teeth and said "she was my mother".

Both girls glared at each other and Elijah thought they were about to start fighting. He stood between them and said "enough". He then looked at Klaus and Rebekah and said "two days ago, you both went to Mystic Falls and coincidently it was the same day of Katerina's death...did you know she was dying?"

They both looked him in the eyes but then Rebekah glanced at Klaus and then put her head down in shame. Elijah then folded the letter up as he got his answer and put it into his suit pocket. He gestured for Nadia to follow him and they walked towards the stairs. Everyone in the courtyard was confused and Rebekah looked at Klaus as if asking what to do.

* * *

Elijah walked into his bedroom with Nadia and got a rucksack out of his closet. He began to place clothes and other essentials inside and Nadia was giving him a look. Elijah smirked and said "you said that you're burying your mother in Bulgaria, I'm coming with you".

Nadia gives him a small smile and said "I'm sure she'd like that". Elijah walked towards the cupboard next to his bed and when he opened the draw, he picked out a photograph then closed it. He looked at the photograph and smiled as he sat on the bed. Nadia was curious and walked towards the bed and sat next to him. She saw that he was holding a picture of him and her mother and she said "when was that taken?"

Elijah handed her the picture, so she could see it better, the picture was of Elijah and Katherine sat on a couch and she had her legs on his lap. He was staring at her and giving her a loving smile, while she was giving him a teasing grin. Katherine was wearing black jeans and top, while Elijah was wearing just his pants and shirt. No tie or tux. None of them were looking at the camera and Nadia could see the love just from a picture. He then said "just after all the business with the cure first began, we both managed to get away for a week. We went to a small town in Georgia...we just wanted to be together. Everyone in Mystic Falls was so obsessed with the cure, that they didn't even notice that we were gone. Your mother had persuaded me to go to a carnival, she's probably the only person who ever could and this picture was taken when we got back. I didn't even know it was taken till her camera flashed and she laughed" Elijah laughed for a moment then shook his head as if remembering her laugh.

Nadia had a tearful smile and handed the picture back to him "you really did love her?"

"Yes" as she handed the picture back, he noticed the bracelet on her wrist and said "Katerina's".

Nadia smiled and said "she gave it to me". He then stood up and placed the photograph into his inside pocket and grabbed his rucksack. He walked towards the door and Nadia followed him.

* * *

When they got back to the courtyard, a pregnant Hayley was stood next to Rebekah and she said to Elijah "are you leaving?"

Elijah nodded and Klaus took a step forward and said "brother, let's forget about this nonsense. The doppelganger is dead, we should be cele-"

Before Klaus could finish his sentence, Elijah dropped his bag on the floor and whooshed Klaus over to the wall, where he pinned him up by his neck. Klaus may have been a hybrid but Elijah was the eldest original alive. All the vampires in the compound, stood up shocked at Elijah's move but Elijah didn't care. Elijah leaned closer to Klaus and said "don't you dare finish that sentence. You knew, you both knew and you didn't tell me" he glanced at Rebekah and back to Klaus "you knew that I love her. I chose you over her, I chose my loyalty for you over her and I'm going to have to live with that choice for the rest of eternity...the wrong choice" Elijah let go of Klaus so he fell to the floor. As he stood in front of Elijah, he touched his neck for a moment due to how tight Elijah squeezed. He then said "you had my loyalty, yet you couldn't tell me that the woman I love was dying. You are no longer my brother".

Klaus glared at him as he walked back towards Nadia. He picked up his bag and they began to walk out but then Rebekah said "Elijah".

He held up his hand to stop her from talking and said "you also kept the information from me. You talk about finding love and happiness but when it comes to Katerina dying, you keep it form me" Elijah shook his head as he didn't know what else to say as betrayal stung him. He looked at Hayley and said "good luck with the child, you'll need it" he and Nadia then walked out.

* * *

Just over half a day later, they had reached Bulgaria. As soon as they both walked into the house, they froze as the coffin was in the middle of the room. Elijah looked at Nadia and she nodded as she knew he wanted a moment. As she left the room, he dropped his bag on the floor and walked towards the coffin. He placed a hand on the coffin as tears were coming to his eyes and he couldn't open it. He tried to open it but he didn't have the strength inside.

After a few moments, he took a deep breath and slowly opened the coffin. His breath got stuck in his throat the second he saw her. His Katerina was lying peacefully but her skin didn't have the glow it usually had, it was now pale. He could see the gray in her hair as he ran a hand over it and a tear fell. Tears began to fall as he wanted nothing more than for her to open her deep brown eyes. He wanted her to live, even if it was just for a moment. He wanted to hold her in his arms and to tell her how sorry he was that he chose Klaus and that he loves her more than anything. He felt his heart breaking inside and he knew that she had taken it to the grave with her. He leaned over the coffin and placed a kiss to her cold forehead and his lips lingered there for a few minuets. He then pulled away and said "I'm sorry, Katerina. I'm sorry for everything I have done to you. I should have chosen you and I regret that. I'll protect Nadia but she needs her mother...please come back to us".

Nadia in the other room, overheard Elijah pleas and tears began to fall. Her mother told her to find happiness but she could never do that without her. Nadia feared what would happen to Elijah after they bury Katherine. He had shown that he loved her mother but from what she heard, he sounded like a man who was suffering and wanted nothing else in life. She looked down at her mother's bracelet and slid down the wall and sat on the floor. She said "do you see what you've done by leaving us?" she then pulled her legs up into her chest and hugged them.

* * *

The next day just as the sun was setting, Nadia and Elijah were stood in front of Katherine's grave. They had buried her close to the rest of her family but they had put her at the top of the hill where they were buried, so that in the morning when the sun rose, it would hit her first. It would bring light to her. The grave stone said _Katerina Petrova, loving mother and companion_. They knew that Katherine would be angry if they put her age because she was too old. They stood there in silence as they watched and they both walked forward and placed a red rose each on her grave. As Nadia placed hers down, a tear fell. Elijah moved and squeezed her hand and sent her a comforting smile.

As she wiped the tears away, Elijah asked "how well did you know her?"

Nadia shook her head and said "not well. For 500 years I thought she had abandoned me and then when I first met her, I held a gun to her head. Of course she nearly staked me, even being human" she laughed "we had a moment and she told me that after she escaped Klaus, she tried to look for me but couldn't find me. We had a moment but then after that, she tried to push me away. It was only because she found out that she was dying. She tried so hard but I wouldn't leave".

"You have her stubbornness?" Elijah asked with a smile.

She laughed and then said sadly "she said that. We connected but I couldn't save her. I tried but I couldn't and I had to watch as she died. She told me she loved me and that was the end".

He squeezed her hand tightly and said "she did love you".

She wiped a tear away and said "how do you know?"

"Because she told me. In the letter she wrote to me, she told me that she didn't want any harm to come to you and that you were her little girl. Katerina doesn't just protect anyone".

"I don't need protection, I can look after myself" she said confidently.

He smiled and said "if you're anything like your mother, than I know you can. But maybe we can get to know each other and I can tell you some tales of the human and Vampire Katerina. If you'd like".

Nadia hesitated before she gave him a small smile and said "I would like that".

Elijah took a step closer to the grave, letting go of her hand and he kissed his fingers and then placed them on the grave stone "we love you, Katerina" after a moment, they both then stepped away and were walking back down the hill, while Elijah began to tell the story of how he met his Katerina.

Next to Katherine's grave stood the ghost of her. She had unshed tears in her eyes and a genuine smile on her face. She looked at the man she loved and her daughter and said "I love you both" she then turned around and after she took a step, she disappeared.

* * *

**AN: Please review. **


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